It's all in the eyes
by nutshak
Summary: For every moment that the past can conjure gives birth to an infinity of futures. This is a look at the many different possibilities of how the fight on the gondola from The Boiling Rock could have turned out.
1. It's all in the eyes

**A look at what would have happened if the fight on the gondola from 'The Boiling Rock' was supposed to be a death match.**

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"That's a problem." He said in response to Hakoda's question. "It's my sister and her friends."

He saw Ty lee jump from the gondola docking station onto the metal wires. She started running. _"That girl really is a circus freak." _He thought.

They heard the roar of flames, and saw Azula rocketing along the cable, seemingly from a wheel of some kind.

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for." Suki said from next to him.

They both landed. Suki turned around to take on Ty lee, Zuko and Sokka went for Azula.

He tried to read her eyes. They where emotionless. He had no way of telling what she was planning. Was it a fight to the death? He thought so. She took a stance, putting her hands in front of her. False alarm. She spun, sending a wave of fire at them both. Zuko jumped to disperse it, blocking the blue flames with his own wall of fire. She sent another ball of blue energy at them. Zuko blocked that, too. From behind them they could hear Suki fighting Ty lee. Another ball came. The same result happened.

Sokka stepped out from behind Zuko, swiping his blade. Azula ducked, and then threw a counter. Sokka retreated behind Zuko, and he dispersed these flames also.

For the first time, Zuko fired at her feet. She jumped. Landing, she turned around with a smile on her face, thinking she was unbeatable. At the last second, she saw a sword flash up. She tried to react, but to no avail. The sword lanced through her throat, cutting through bone and sinew. Blood bubbled from the wound. She fell to the ground. With a last attempt, she tried to push herself to her feet. She couldn't. From the ground, she sent a week fireball flying at Zuko. He caught it. After a moment, it turned from blue to yellow.

Sokka looked shocked at what he had done. He heard Ty lee send an audible gasp their way. Suki turned around, trying to figure out why her opponent had stopped fighting. "Oh." She whispered. Ty lee started crying, and jumped off onto the passing gondola. Suki saw her crawl up into the fetal position.

Zuko leaned down to his dying sister. "Goodbye, Azula." He closed his palm. The fire went out.

And she died.

--

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Sokka heard the warden yell out underneath him, "Cut the line!"

The carriage jerked to a stop. Everyone on the roof jumped back in.

"They're cutting the line!" Zuko yelled. "The gondola's about to go!"

"Then I hope this thing floats." Was Hakoda's reply.

After what seemed like an eternity of tense waiting, they saw a blurred figured moving strangely fast where the guards where. They figure flicked her arm, and the guards were flung back to the walls. The gondola started moving again.

"Who is that?" Sokka asked to nobody in particular.

"It's Mai!" stated Zuko.

Down below, they saw Ty lee jump off the carriage. She ran over and hugged Mai. After a few moments, Mai sagged, and hugged her back.

"Shh, it's okay, Ty lee." Mai tried to comfort the crying girl. She just cried harder. "Common," she insisted, "We have to get out of here before more guards come."

Ty lee just nodded, and let herself be tugged away.

--

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"We can't just leave her here." Whispered Zuko. "She may have been evil, but she was still my sister…"

"We can't do anything now," Hakoda said. "We have to leave. The guards will return her body to the Firenation, and they will give her a proper funeral."

"But I won't be there…" he whined.

"Sorry, Zuko." Sokka said. "We'll have a funeral for her tonight. She may not be there physically, but you still carry her spirit in your heart."

"Okay. She would have come here somehow. There's probably a balloon on this volcano."

They found the balloon, and took off. Zuko looked back down to the ground, out the window, and repeated, "Goodbye, Azula."


	2. The Left Fist

**Originally this was only gonna be one chapter but mramirez1991 gave me the idea to write a different way that this could have turned out each time. Now I know this is gonna sound braggy, but I don't usually run out of ideas, so there could be lots more chapters ahead of us. **

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"That's a problem." He said in response to Hakoda's question. "It's my sister and her friends."

He saw Ty lee jump from the gondola docking station onto the metal wires. She started running. _"That girl has some serious skills." _He thought.

They heard the roar of flames, and saw Azula rocketing along the cable, seemingly from a wheel of some kind.

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for." Suki said from next to him.

"Me too." He heard himself say.

They both landed. Suki turned around to take on Ty lee, Zuko and Sokka went for Azula.

He saw her try to read him, to see any faults she could find. Zuko had the feeling Azula knew what he did when he was about to attack. He always curled his left fist into a ball. It was a habit of his that needed breaking. She raised her hands. False alarm. She ducked and spun, sending a wave of blue flames at the two. Zuko turned it into nothing. Her second attempt; She threw a massive fireball at him. The same result occurred. A third try, a third defensive block. He could vaguely hear Ty lee and Suki fighting behind him.

Sokka ran out from behind Zuko, swinging his blade in a clumsy strike. She easily dodged, then sent more flames flying their way. Sokka retreated behind Zuko, who dispersed them.

Zuko finally decided to take the offensive. He fired at his sister's feet. She jumped up, twirled around and landed, thinking she was unbeatable. She saw the flash of black steel at the last second, and narrowly missed being massacred by Sokka's blade. Zuko assaulted her with more flames; she jumped and landed in a pushup position, though her feet weren't on the ground. She quickly looked up, expecting to see the sword try to cut her, but they were just watching. _"Fools." _She thought.

Zuko saw her tense up, but was to slow to react. She brought her feet in front of her and kicked more fire at them. Sokka avoided, but Zuko's hand got badly burned.

From underneath him, Sokka heard the warden cry out, "Cut the line!"

Azula sent another heat blast at Zuko. He rolled with the flame, letting it evaporate into nothing. The carriage jerked to a stop. Everyone found a grip, except Sokka.

Zuko saw him slipping. He rushed over and grabbed Sokka's hand. The Firebender cried out in pain from the burn on his palm. As an involuntary reflex, he let go.

Sokka fell from the gondola. He tried to grab onto something, anything. His head smashed against a piece of metal jutting from the side of the carriage. It sliced his temple. Death looked instantaneous.

Zuko looked over the edge in horror at what he had just done. Sokka had died because of him. He heard the boy cry out, and saw him smash his head against a piece of metal, blood gushing everywhere.

"_Oh please dear Agni let that have killed him!" _Thought Zuko. _"Don't make him suffer the horrors of the boiling lake!"_

_Splash. _Zuko opened his eyes. There was no struggling, no cries of pain. He looked up to the sky. _"Thank you."_

"There about to cut the line!" he heard Ty lee shout from overhead.

Azula glanced around. "Then it's time to leave." She rocketed over to the passing gondola, Ty lee close behind.

"Goodbye, Zuko." He wasn't listening. Tears where blinding his vision.

"Where…" Suki started. "No…" she whispered, glancing over the edge. "NO!" she broke down into tears, curing up in the fetal position.

Chet Seng climbed out from under. "Guys what's… oh." He saw what had happened. He jumped out all the way, and helped Suki and Zuko inside.

"What's happening? Where's Sokka?" Hakoda asked. None of them answered. "Zuko, where is Sokka?" Zuko glanced out the window. Hakoda ran towards it and looked down. Without saying a word, he bolted up onto the roof. Running to the main pulley system, he yanked as much cables out from the wire box as he could, and then started smashing the metal cogs. Everything started to shake. "Hold on!" shouted Hakoda. After one more kick, he scrambled back into the carriage, and started rocking it. Zuko joined in without question. There was a groaning sound. The pulley system gave way. They plummeted towards the boiling lake, landing with a massive splash, not far away from Sokka's corpse. Using a wooden plank he had ripped off the wall already, Hakoda started paddling towards the dead body. It looked like it turned its head. Hakoda hauled it in, the arms and legs had turned pink, as well as most of the face.

It coughed. Sokka coughed up water, and then coughed some more. Zuko stared on in bewilderment. A dead corpse coughing? Or maybe not so dead. Hakoda let out a yell of joy. The wound on Sokka's head was slowly bleeding, but it didn't look fatal at all.

"Fu… shi... gaah…" Sokka coughed some more. He expelled some red liquid from his mouth, and then passed out cold.

Zuko turned to Hakoda, "Is that bad!?"

"Yes, but not overly so. His throat was badly burned when he took in so much of that water. Added with the coughing, it would have torn itself apart.

"But how is he alive?" everyone asked at once.

"The armor. It's heat proof."

"Heat proof armor?" Zuko queried. "Why would they give the guards heat proof armor?"

"In a prison full of Firebenders, who knows what could happen." Hakoda ripped off Sokka's garb. He sighed. "Sokka's going to be in a lot of pain for the next few weeks. Though if Katara can heal him, it should be shorter. He's not going to be able to move very well, and I don't think this gondola will stay afloat much longer…" they heard a roar.

The life saving, magical roar of Appa. Zuko scrambled out to the roof; taking extra care not to tip the thing, "Down here!" he called up to the bison. Aang looked over the edge, and saw him. Appa immediately started descending.

Zuko called everyone up. Hakoda came out first, and then Chet Seng held Sokka out the window for Hakoda to take. Zuko came to help him. Together, they managed to lift Sokka up. Suki came out next. Appa, getting as close as he could, was waiting next to the slowly sinking carriage.

"Aang!" Zuko called. "Come and help us!"

Aang jumped the distance with ease and started asking what was wrong until he saw Sokka. He immediately went to take him, then jumped back over to Appa, laying the burnt boy down next to Katara.

"Oh no what happened!?" She already had her water out and was healing Sokka as much as she could. Hakoda told her as soon as he was on the great beast,

"He fell." Was all he got out before Katara burst into tears.

Suki had only just stopped crying, the tears easing up some as she learned that Sokka wasn't dead.

"Appa, yip yip." Aang droned.

From high in the sky, Zuko thought he saw Mai staring up at him, smiling.

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	3. The right ankle

**I did this one during geography class. The joy of boredom, ey?**

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"That's a problem." He said in response to Hakoda's question. "It's my sister and her friends."

He saw Ty lee jump from the gondola docking station onto the metal wires. She started running. _"Wow she can jump high." _He thought.

They heard the roar of flames, and saw Azula rocketing along the cable, seemingly from a wheel of some kind.

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for." Suki said from next to him.

"Me too." He heard himself say.

They both landed. Suki turned around to take on Ty lee, Zuko and Sokka went for Azula.

He tried to read her face. To find any sign, any giveaway of what she was planning. He found nothing. She raised her hands, signalling she was about to attack. False alarm. She spun, sending a wave of blue fire at the two. Zuko jumped to disperse it, but landed hard. He grunted in pain, but tried not show the fact that he had just rolled his ankle. From behind, he could here Suki and Ty lee throwing punches and blocks. More flames came at them. More Zuko blocked them.

Sokka ducked out from behind Zuko, in an attempt to saw Azula off balance with his sword. She easily dodged. Sokka retreated behind Zuko, as Azula threw more fire at them. Zuko blocked it again.

Taking the offensive, Zuko threw his own red flames at Azula's feet. She jumped and twirled. Landing, she didn't think they would send another attack so quickly. She was wrong. At the last second, she saw Sokka's ash coloured blade lunge at her throat. She narrowly avoided it. Not half a second later, Zuko assaulted her with a ball of orange fury. She jumped, landing in a push up position with her feet in the air. She expected an attack in this vulnerable state, but nothing came. _"Foolish boys." _

Zuko saw her tense at the last second. Jumping out of the way, he just missed being burned by Azula's kick. He threw himself back, but because of his rolled ankle, he stumbled, and smashed into the back of Ty lee. She fell.

In a split second decision, Azula jumped. She didn't know what she was doing, only that her friend was falling to her death. To speed up her descent, she straightened up. Azula caught the acrobat just before she hit the boiling water, and quickly put on her rockets. She didn't move for a few moments, the water underneath them splashing up or evaporating due to the intense heat of the girl's flames. She started moving. Ty lee started screaming.

She had saved the girls life, but because of the position the acrobat was holding onto Azula from, her legs were getting badly burnt. So bad they turned black within seconds. Thankfully it only took five to land back on the gondola, and she extinguished her jet propelling rockets and lay the girl down. She was still screaming. From underneath them, they heard the warden call out: "Cut the line!"

After a moment of delay, the carriage jerked to a stop. Everyone found a grip.

"There about to cut the line!" shouted Suki, over Ty lee's screaming. To everyone's relief, the circus girl passed out from the pain.

Azula, for the first time in ten years, was crying. Everyone was staring helplessly at her. She was cradling Ty lee in her arms. Zuko couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

He walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Azula." He started quietly, "We need to get inside." She just nodded dumbly.

Zuko lifted the limp girl into the gondola, with the help of Sokka, being careful to mind her legs. Once inside Zuko told Hakoda what was happening.

"Then I hope this thing floats." Was all he could say.

They waited. And waited. Sokka glanced out the window. "Who is that!?" he asked to no one in particular.

Zuko ran to the side of the gondola, "It's Mai!" he said, after studying the person closely.

The carriage started moving. Zuko had to smile. As the transportation device docked over the other side, Zuko turned to Azula, who was still cradling Ty lee. "What are you going to do?"

"Go. Get out of here. Get out of my sight!" she yelled. Zuko vaguely remembered those words from somewhere.

The Firebender caught up with the others. "My sister was on that island."

"Yeah, we kind of guess that!" stated Sokka.

"What I mean is she would have come here somehow. There's probably a balloon around here somewhere…" he ran to the edge of the volcano. "There!" he called the others.

Once in the air, Zuko looked back out one of the windows. He glanced down to the prison docking station, and saw Mai, looking up at him.

"Goodbye, Mai." He shut the window.


	4. The Suns Glare

**The sun gives life to all, but there are times when we went to shut it off from the world. I think this would be one of them.**

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"That's a problem." He said in response to Hakoda's question. "It's my sister and her friends."

He saw Ty lee jump from the gondola docking station onto the metal wires. She started running. _"She could fall to her death, but she shows no sign of fear." _He admired.

They heard the roar of flames, and saw Azula rocketing along the cable, seemingly from a wheel of some kind.

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for." Suki said from next to him.

"Me too." He didn't know why he said it. He wasn't looking forward to fighting his sister again.

They both landed. Suki turned around to take on Ty lee, Zuko and Sokka went for Azula.

He tried to read her expression. He found nothing. The girl could easily hide what she was thinking. She raised her hands, as if she was about to attack. False alarm. She spun and kicked out, sending a wave of flames at the two. Zuko jumped to block it. Blue met red, and both vanished. For a time, Azula just kept throwing flames at Zuko, who would easily block them, turning them into nothing. From behind, he could hear Ty lee and Suki battling it out.

From Zuko's aft, Sokka appeared, sending a clumsy throw of his sword at the fire princess. She easily dodged, having seen it coming from miles away. Sokka shied back behind Zuko, just in time, as Azula assaulted them with more venomous flames. Zuko sent them on their way.

Seeing an opening, he fired at her feet, causing her to jump in the air. Sokka saw this as an opportunity, and attempted to disembowel her. He flipped his blade up, the sun glinting from the ash coloured metal. She saw it at the last second and dodged being cut open by a hairs breadth.

Zuko blinked. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get them to see properly again. Being blinded in battle was a hazard. In most people's cases, anyway. As Sokka's sword swept up, the sun reflected from the sharp point, glaring angrily into his eyes like an arrow. He couldn't see a thing.

Taking a chance, he blindly threw a ball of flames at Azula. It seemed to have sailed in her direction, though she dodged it. The girl landed in a push-up position, her legs in the air. She was expecting them to attack whilst she was in the vulnerable state. She glanced up. Zuko was rubbing at his eyes, and Sokka was watching her every move. _"The perfect opportunity to hurt them." _She thought.

Bringing her legs forward, she kicked an immense amount of fire in their general direction. Sokka saw it coming, but Zuko, still blinded, got hit full on. He screamed out in pain.

The only clothes he had left on the front of him were a few charred remains of his shirt and his pants. The skin underneath was charred and blackened. He was in the worst position possible. His vision was starting to clear up, though not completely, and he was in so much pain he knew he would pass out soon. He staggered, not thinking clearly, and forgetting that he was on top of a moving carriage. He almost walked straight of the edge, but Sokka ran over and grabbed him, pushing him back to the centre. Unfortunately, Azula was standing at the centre as well, watching intently, trying to figure out what had befallen her brother.

She saw him stumbling towards her. He fell to his knees in front of her. His eyes had a pleading look in them. "Azula..." he coughed. "Help me!" Azula contemplated the situation. For a moment, she was tempted to help him. But only for a moment. Lifting him to his knees. She whispered into his ear, "Goodbye, Zuko." And then she pushed him. He tried to stop himself, but couldn't. He fell screaming off the side of the gondola. Azula decided to be nice.

Flowing through the movements she needed to separate positive and negative energy, she charged her hands. Once crackling, she leaned over the edge and shot the falling body with all she had. He seemed to float for a minute, and then resumed his descent. With a splash, he landed in the boiling volcanic waters. There was no thrashing or struggling.

And then she felt cold. It wasn't from the realization of what she had just done, nor from the fact that from underneath her she heard the warden call out "Cut the line!"

No, the reason she felt cold all of a sudden was because of the sword blade jutting from her lower belly. Isn't it curious, she thought, that all i feel is cold?

She felt the sword withdraw from her body, sending numerous stabs of pain all over her. Her life didn't flash before her eyes though. She saw the many thousands of people that had stood before her, begging, pleading for their life, only for her to snuff it out, like a candle on the wind. And then there were the defiant ones. The ones that spat at her feet, saying how evil she was, how she would never prevail. She liked those ones the best. She saw a memory of her and Zuko as they were kids, just five years old, playing hide and seek, laughing and pretending to shoot each other. Then she died. Tumbling forward off the side of the carriage, she did numerous flips through the air, then landed, not far from Zuko, in the steamy water.

Ty lee and Suki looked over the side. The acrobat gasped, then jumped off onto the passing carriage. She sat down, leaning against the metal arm.

Suki just stared, feeling some sorrow for the prince who had just helped them escape. Sokka was tearing up. Suki embraced him, then guided the boy back inside.

"What's going on?" Hakoda asked.

Sokka started to explain, "Zuko's dead. Azula killed him..." they could see him hesitating.

"Then Sokka stabbed Azula." Suki finished for him.

Hakoda just nodded. "They're going to cut the line." He pointed to the docking station. They spotted the massive metal saw cutting through the steel cable.

"Then i hope this thing floats." Suki stated, trying to lift the mood. It didn't work.

Then there was a blur of movement. The guards looked like they were flying backwards, landing on the walls. Only then did Sokka realise it was Mai, Zuko's ex girlfriend, apparently saving them. The gondola jerked forward, and started moving.

Suki spotted the girl, Ty lee was it? Jump from the descending carriage, and run into Mai's embrace. The shocked girl just hugged her, then Ty lee pointed to the water, and they both fell to the ground.

At the opposite docking station, Sokka told Chet Seng to throw the warden back inside.

Suki looked around; "Azula was on that island... She must have come here somehow."

"She's right." Hakoda agreed. "There's probably a war balloon over there." He pointed down the side of the cliff. They all ran down, and were greeted with huge zephyr.

Once safe high in the air, Sokka glanced out the window. "Rest well, Zuko."

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	5. A Black Tile

**And this one's completely different entirely. Much shorter than the rest. I was in a bad mood. A really bad mood. Such a bad mood that my knuckles were bleeding from punching a concrete wall too much. I just wrote this to because writing helps me think clearly. But let's read on.**

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"That's a problem." He said in response to Hakoda's question. "It's my sister and her friends."

From there vantage point atop the gondola, they could see Ty lee jump onto the docking station, about to jump off onto the cable. She tensed up, reading herself. Pushing off with both feet, a black tile dislodged from the roof she was standing on, sending her sprawling. She landed on the intended target, but stumbled. She fell from the wire, straight down into the boiling moat.

From below, screams of pain and terror lasted for a few minutes before they died out, along with the one producing them.

Everyone stood frozen in shock. The most talented acrobat anyone had ever known, killed by a black tile. Azula payed it half a mind, but decided it was more important to kill the escapee's than to mourn her friend.

After rocketing along the cable, Azula landed on the carriage, and rolled into a fighting stance. She raised her hands as if to attack, but ducked and kicked instead. Zuko jumped to block his sisters fire with his own. She tried again and again, but Zuko's defence was impenetrable. Sokka appeared from behind Zuko, sending a clumsy stab in the girls direction. She easily dodged, and stood up, waiting for more. It never came, though, as a piece of metal was already jutting from her chest.

Hakoda stood behind her, an inside piece of the gondola partially in his hand, partially in Azula's body. She screamed. Then she died.

Laying her down on the roof, he heard the warden call underneath him; "Cut the line!"

He gestured for the others to go back inside. After what seemed like forever of tense waiting, a blurred figure raced into view and started scattering the guards. It looked like they were flying into walls on their own accord. Then Zuko realized what was happening.

"It's Mai!" despite himself, he smiled. She was saving them; after all he'd done to her.

The gondola jerked forward, and then resumed its ascent to the edge of the volcano. Once there, Hakoda instructed Chet Seng to throw the warden back in the carriage. Zuko stopped.

"My sister was on that volcano..." he looked around. "There's probably a balloon here somewhere..." he ran to the Cliffside. "There!"

Once safely inside the balloon, Sokka instructed Chet Seng how to work the engines, and he and Zuko made the mechanical beast lift into the air.

"So, that was your sister, huh?"

"Yes." Zuko stated flatly.

"She was evil, but she was still your sister. I lost my sister to some Firenation soldiers. They disgrace our country. First they brutally raped her, then tried to hide her body in a forest. I found it five days later. I hunted down the five bastards who did it, one by one, until they were all dead. That's how i ended up in that place."

"I'm sorry." He attempted.

"You shouldn't be. It had nothing to do with you. Do you, ah, want to have a funeral? y'know, for your sister? When we get back to your friends camp?"

A sad, lost smile appeared on his face for the faintest of moments. "I'd like that."

--

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	6. A Bug In The System

**Bugs are annoying, but in this particular instance, they would be really annoying. **

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"That's a problem." He said in response to Hakoda's question. "It's my sister and her friends."

He saw Ty lee jump from the gondola docking station onto the metal wires. She started running. _The laws of gravity don't seem to apply to her." _He thought.

They heard the roar of flames, and saw Azula rocketing along the cable, seemingly from a wheel of some kind.

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for." Suki said from next to him.

"Me too." But was he? He didn't know.

Ty lee landed behind him, Azula landed in front. She rolled into a fighting stance. Zuko attempted to look intimidating. It didn't work. She raised her hands, readying herself for defence. It was a distraction. She spun and kicked, sending a wall of fire at them. Zuko jumped to meet it.

The two opposing forces met head on, both cancelling each other out. They clashed again and again, both equal strength, but not skill.

Sokka ducked out from behind Zuko, and sent a clumsy blow for Azula's head. She dodged it easy, and sent flames spiralling for him. He retreated back to his safe spot behind the prince, who disposed of the fire.

Spotting an opening, he shot at her feet, causing her to jump. She twirled out of reach of his red heat, and landed with a smug grin on her face. It didn't last for long, as Sokka's sword flew out of nowhere at her.

--

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He would have done it. She was too dangerous to keep alive. But at that moment, that one vital moment, a Spiderfly decided to land on his eyeball. He yelled out in shock and minor pain, letting go his sword to sail away. Sokka rubbed at his crystalline blue eyes, trying to get the bug out. Thankfully, it flew away, but left its leg underneath his eyelid. It stung like hell.

--

--

She sidestepped at the last possible moment. The transformed meteor rock missed slicing her open by a few millimetres.

Sokka's blade clattered against the roof, landing next the edge. It was stationary, for the moment. Ignoring the past threat, she turned to her opponents. One was dancing around, clutching his eye and not paying attention to anything; the other was trying to tell him to get his head in the game.

"Are you going to keep teaching Zuko your dance moves or are you going to fight?" Azula taunted.

Sokka let his hands drop from his eye, though he kept it tightly shut. Turning most of his attention back to the immediate threat, he glanced around for his sword. He spotted it, but it was out of reach, leaving him weapon less. He formulated a plan in his head, and slowly started walking to the side of the gondola. He jumped down back inside.

"Ah, it seems he is a coward after all. Oh well, looks like it's just you and me." She smiled at him.

"Hasn't it always been?" There was no malice in his words.

"Your right Zuko, it has always been about you. You're the only one i wanted to crush, and snuff out of existents. I don't care what the avatar does, he can't defeat dad anyway, he's just a boy."

"And you're just a girl." He wasn't smiling.

She grinned wickedly, and threw multiple flaming balls of fire at him. He dodged the first two, then caught the second and threw it back, retaining its blue heat. Azula did the same, but added more power. When it reached him, he sent it around his body like a lasso, and launched it in her direction. He closely followed it with three smaller versions.

Before it reached the halfway mark between them, she intercepted it with a flame wall, and jumped the next three.

"Is that all you've got, Zuko? I thought you would be more of a challenge. No matter, at least now i can dispose of you quickly."

"Is this your definition of quickly?" he asked.

"No. This is." She swiftly moved through the flowing movements she needed to form the cold fire, but before she could complete it, the tip of a sword appeared in her breast. Sokka appeared from behind her, coming from underneath. Having picked up his sword, he stabbed her through the back. Azula staggered, and electricity pulsed around her entire body like a glowing lantern. She suddenly realized what was going on, and whispered; "Oh, shit."

"Sokka! Get away from her!" Zuko yelled as hard as he could. Sokka, not knowing the danger, left his sword in Azula and ran over to Zuko. "Duck!" they both threw their hand over their heads.

And Azula exploded.

"What! She exploded!? How did that happen!? People don't explode!" Sokka shouted.

Ty lee and Suki, having heard the loud explosion, turned around to see what was going on. Ty lee gasped. Suki just stared.

"It was the lightning. Without an exit path, it had nowhere to go, so it left her body from everywhere. It just took her skin and bones with it." He sighed.

"Wow." Was all he could say. "Hey, why isn't the carriage moving?" he wondered.

He glanced around. "I don't know. Common, we better get back inside and see what's going on. Ty lee? What are you going to do?" she just ran into his arms and started crying. "Okay." He helped her back in, and the others followed. Sokka saw his sword, sprawled out on the ground, covered in blood, but otherwise intact. He picked it up.

Down below, Suki asked Hakoda why they weren't moving.

"First you tell us what exploded out there." He said.

Zuko turned to him. "Azula." He said flatly.

"What? She shot lightning?"

"No. She exploded."

"Wha- just tell me later. The warden called out before, telling the guards to cut the line. That's why we're not moving."

"Sure hope this thing floats." Said Sokka.

Nothing happened for about five minutes, but they could see the glinting of the huge metal saw that was cutting through the steel cables.

Then the guards started flying. And landing into walls.

Sokka pointed. "What is that?"

Zuko spotted a blurred figure racing across the platform and flicking her arms up. He knew then not what, but who, it was. "It's Mai!"

Ty lee looked up from crying on Zuko's chest. "Oh no! She's going to be arrested!"

"She'll be fine." Hakoda assured. "The warden is her uncle, after all."

Ty lee nodded. The gondola jerked forward, and started moving at a steady pace. Sokka rubbed at his eye.

Once fully over the other side, Zuko told Chet Seng to throw the warden back in the carriage.

Zuko looked around. "My sister came here somehow. There's probably a balloon or boat around." He ran to the edge of the cliff. "There!" he pointed to a huge metal war zephyr.

They reached the door, and Chet Seng broke it off. Once high in the air, Ty lee turned to Sokka. "You don't mind if i... stay with you? You and you're friends? Just for a little while?" she asked shyly.

He smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm sure that would be fine. But I'll have to ask the others first."

"Thanks, Sokka."

--

--


	7. Handcuffs

**The carelessness of one can be the death of another. I thought of this as I was about to shut the computer down and just had to write it. **

**--**

**--**

"Hurry up!" The head guard yelled to everyone in the lounge. "The warden wants us out there now! There's a prison riot!"

Stysen, a young guard who had just been recruited, was fiddling with his customary pair of handcuffs. They had broken when he fell against a wall, and being a tinker, he just had to fix them himself. He was halfway through the process when his commanding officer told them all to move out. He loosely screwed in one more screw. _"That will have to do. Though they will be quite loose." _ He thought.

Attaching them to his belt, he joined the fast moving line of guards.

--

--

"That's a problem." Zuko said in response to Hakoda's question. "It's my sister and her friends."

He saw Ty lee jump from the gondola docking station onto the metal wires. She started running. _"I wonder if she's ever fallen." _He thought.

Down below, Azula thought of how she was going to get from where she was up to where the escapee's where. Then she remembered her mentors telling her that she was powerful enough to propel herself in the air. _"I wonder if that also works along cable lines…"_

She ran over to the nearest guard and grabbed his handcuffs. She heard him yelling something incoherent, but decided it was probably just him admiring her strength.

Jumping in the air, she forced as much fire out of her feet as possible, causing a rocket effect. Once high enough, she slung the handcuffs over the metal wire, and propelled herself forward.

Only when she had reached about halfway out did she realize that the handcuffs she was holding onto were starting to come loose. _"What! The Firenation is supposed to have the best equipment! Handcuffs don't just break!"_

Apparently, she was wrong. A screw came loose, and the whole thing came apart. She tried to grab onto the actual cable. She was to slow. The fire princess plummeted into the volcanic waters. Her screams bounced from the rock walls, causing her death to sound tenfold more gruesome.

From the gondola, Zuko looked on in disbelieve. Ty lee landed on the roof, and scrambled inside, having seen Azula fall. She slumped down against the wall. They ignored her.

Sokka saw the warden struggle free of his bonds, so he grabbed him before he could do anything and tightened them. The rest of the journey was spoken in silence. The gondola safely reached the other side of the line, and Sokka told Chet Seng to throw the warden back in the carriage.

"Are you coming with us, Ty lee?" Zuko asked.

She nodded.

--

--


	8. Don't feed the animals

**Was writing an essay and started writing this down completely accidentally. Had to get a new piece of paper. Thank you boring English. Just so you know, a Crollow is a cross between a crow and a swallow. **

--

--

Aang whistled, and held out his hand. Inching closer to the little Crollow, he tried to get it to hop on his hand. It didn't work, so he took a piece of bread and threw it to the little black creature.

"Aang! I know you think animals are cute, but you're not supposed to feed them. It could have some really bad effects to their system." Chided Katara.

"Sorry, Katara. I won't do it again." Promised Aang. Katara turned to walk away, then disappeared around the corner. Aang turned back to the Crollow and resumed throwing the small morsels of bread to it.

--

--

"That's a problem." Zuko said in response to Hakoda's question. "It's my sister and her friends."

He saw Ty lee jump from the gondola docking station onto the metal wires. She started running._"That girl must have hollow bones ." _He thought.

They heard the roar of flames, and saw Azula rocketing along the cable, seemingly from a wheel of some kind.

"This is a rematch I've been waiting for." Suki said from next to him.

"Me too." He was dead sure that he wanted to kill Azula, weather she was his sister or not.

The intimidation factor on Zuko's face when Azula landed was nil. He didn't look scary at all, just regretful.

"Why the long face, Zuzu?" she asked as she rolled into a fighting stance.

"It's nothing." He lied.

"Come now, it couldn't be nothing, you're looking so blue." She persisted.

"Is that supposed to be an insult to the water tribe?" Sokka asked from behind Zuko. No one answered.

Zuko gave in. "It's just that one of us is probably going to be dead by the end of today."

"Yes, I won't enjoy killing you too much, dear brother. But you've had this coming for a long time." She threw a wall of flames at Zuko, who jumped out to meet them. In a rush of energy, two different fires 

met, and time seemed to freeze for a second, before starting up again in a frenzy of blue and red. Zuko was on the offensive most of the time; Azula didn't cease her assault until she could see the fight was going nowhere. Taking what her tutors had taught her to mind, she let her opponent strike, hoping that he would somehow give away an opening.

Zuko saw Azula finally give rest to the battle, so he aimed and fired at her feet. She jumped, dodging the fierce ball of fire, and landed with a grin. The only thing that kept her alive, however, was the sun, as she saw it glint of Sokka's blade at the last second, allowing her to swiftly move out of reach of the offending sword.

Sokka swore, knowing he should have taken the strike earlier. The moment of doubt and hesitation might have cost them their lives.

Something cold and wet suddenly appeared on Sokka's shoulder.

"Craaaw!" they heard from above them. It was a Crollow.

He glanced to the intruding mess. It was the last thing he saw, as Azula took advantage of the small distraction and took the time to separate the two energies of positive and negative, creating the instant effect of lightning.

The young water tribe boy toppled from his position on the gondola into the murky depths of the boiling lake beneath. It was the last anyone saw of him.

Zuko was astounded. He turned slowly to his sister, a look of pure hate and rage contorted on his features. The only thing keeping him from sending an aggressive shoulder charge at Azula was all the years of training. Turns out he didn't need to, in the end, because from behind the princess jumped Hakoda, a piece of jagged metal in his hand.

Before either of them could react, the leader of the water tribe thrust his makeshift weapon in front of Azula, then swung it back to slit her throat. She crumpled with a half gargled scream.

They heard a shout from below them. "Cut the line!"

Ty lee, after finally spotting a lax in Suki's defense and paralyzing her, jumped onto the passing carriage, knowing there was nothing more she could do.

Zuko reached the kyoshi warrior. She was lying face down, so he picked her up and handed her to the burley Chet Seng who was waiting inside. Once she was clear, he followed.

He looked around for Sokka's father, only to find that he was still up top, looking sadly over the edge, tears of misery and remorse dropping down to join the deceased boy.

After a long minute, he too jumped down inside to join the others.

"They're about to cut the line." Zuko informed him.

Hakoda didn't reply.

They could hear the screeching of metal against metal as the colossal saw cut through the steel cable holding them aloft. They waited. It was all they could do.

Suddenly the screeching ceased, and they all tensed, thinking they were about to fall. But they didn't. Glancing down to the docking station, Zuko saw why they weren't yet dead.

A blurred figure moving at inhuman speeds was whipping around down on the deck, throwing up its arms to have the guards in front fly backwards as if by some invisible force. Then Zuko realized who the figure was.

"It's Mai!" he said to no one in particular. The carriage jerked onwards, and sighs of relief could be heard from everyone. When they reached the far end, Zuko told Chet Seng to throw the warden wherever he wanted, which happened to be down the side of the cliff. He rolled to a stop halfway down, smashing his skull against a log.

Zuko looked around and saw a war balloon docked at the beach. "Over there!" he pointed.

Once started up, everyone found a seat, exhausted both physically and emotional. Hakoda shifted in his chair once more, positioning himself so his head rested against his palm.

"_I'm going to kill them." _ He thought. _"All of the bastards who support the Firenation. The women, the children, the elderly, and the warriors. They're all going to suffer." _

And then sleep took him.

--

--


	9. Vietnam, eh?

Yeah i hate me to because this isnt a chapter but a message.

But only cus im in nam for like 13 days from this point and im actually typing from here because i couldnt do it at home on account of i was to busy gettin ready.

So there wont be another chap of this til i get back; in thirteen days from this point and the day is... june 30th. at least it is here anyway.

So happy waiting!


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